Mbuuni Secondary School

Project Status

Southeastern Kenya WaSH Program

The Water Project’s WaSH program in Southeast Kenya aims to restore water access for communities living in a semi-arid environment through the construction of sand dams, shallow hand dug wells, and 104,000 liter rainwater catchment systems. Explore projects in this region to learn about (how you can be involved in) innovative farming, education, hygiene and sanitation training, and reliable access to clean drinking water.

Functionality Data

Install Date: 06/30/2018

Current Status: Functional - New Project

Project Features

Rainwater Catchment

Rainwater is collected off strategic areas of a roof, enters a custom guttering system (which filters out debris) and leads to a storage tank. Tanks can vary in sizes and are determined by population and average rainfall patterns. Water can be stored for months, is easily treated in the tank, and is accessible through taps. These projects are implemented at schools with proper roof lines and gutter systems to make them successful.

Rehabilitation Project

Rehabilitation is not just fixing a pump - it’s total community re-engagement.

There’s only one thing we can think of that might be worse than not having safe water: having safe water, and then losing it because a project fell into disrepair.

Rehabilitation often proves to be a big challenge, as many wells have sit idle for years and there is typically little information about the specifics of the well. A borehole and dug well rehabilitation involves quite a bit of discovery. First, our teams work to discover as much as they can about the initial project. What materials were used? Was the borehole/hand-dug well properly constructed? Many of these questions can only be answered by diving in, and doing “the work” which makes up a rehabilitation.

Once our teams have found the problem, they find the solution. Then, they reconstruct the well and install a hand pump.

Engagement and training with communities takes into account rehabilitation was needed and alters the program to suit the needs of the community. After all - engaging with this community in the same way which led to the initial, failed project will not bring new results. Our teams work to understand the social and support reasons leading to initial failure, and make those areas a focus of our ongoing engagement with communities.

Local Leadership

Local leadership is a lasting investment

Sustainable water projects only occur through the presence of local leaders. The Water Project identifies, develops, supports, and partners with local organizations who share our vision of reliable and verifiable clean water. Together, we build water programs that include responsible community development, lasting local solutions and ongoing monitoring and resolution.

Community Engagement

Community engagement is at every step of a water project.

Our engagement is rooted in relationship and includes involving the community in implementation and ongoing support, setting expectations for water point management and ongoing costs, etc. All of this happens before a water project is installed.

We use a term called ABCD: “Asset Based Community Development”. This means the community gets a leading seat at the table. Before we seek to bring anything into the community, we first seek to understand and utilize the assets that already exist within the community.

Handwashing Stations

Handwashing with soap at critical times reduces diarrheal disease by more than 40%. All of our projects include hygiene and sanitation training, which (among many things) empowers communities to build their own handwashing stations. When we work at schools, we install permanent handwashing stations and work with the school to make sure they are constantly supplied with soap.

Hygiene and Sanitation Training

Community education and self-discovery about hygiene and sanitation concepts lead to improved health.

Improved health is always the goal. This is why all our projects include hygiene and sanitation training. We utilize many different methods for this training, depending on the community/institution, program and country. Training topics include disease transmission, personal hygiene and cleanliness, proper disposal of waste and proper water storage methods.

Monitoring and Resolution

Water isn’t a pump. Water is a service. And, it must be reliable.

The known benefits of water are ONLY true if water can be counted on, over time. We love celebrating when a project is complete and a community has access to clean, safe water. However, the ongoing service of water - making water reliable - is how we know our true impact.

The Water Project continues to monitor our water projects, and we provide continued support to make sure water service continues for communities.

Past water projects and the communities they serve are just as important to us as anything else we might be doing in the future.

Project Timeline FAQ

Project Status

We’re working hard to make sure your gifts result in a lasting water project for the community it serves. Our engagement with a community begins many months before construction and lasts years after construction. The timeline here is focused on the physical construction of the water project. There is also training and engagement work that has already started.

Water project construction in the developing world is hard work. A lot of things can and do cause delays - which are normal. We attempt to make our best judgment of when construction will be complete, but the circumstances surrounding actual "in the field" conditions are far from our control.

Weather, supply availability, government paperwork, and progress of community involvement are just a few of the variables that can delay (and sometimes speed up) a project's completion.

We will always tell you if anything changes. And, if you get a notice like this – it’s actually further proof your gifts are being carefully used towards a water project that lasts.

Click icons to learn about each feature.

Community Profile

This area of Mbuuni is hilly, vegetated, and peaceful – a conducive learning environment for students at Mbuuni Secondary School. River Thwake cuts the village in half, snaking through these hills. People living here used to specialize in growing coffee, but it’s no longer as profitable.

Mbuuni Secondary School was opened by the community in 2004, and continues thanks to parents’ strong support. It has seven classrooms, a kitchen, girls’ dormitory, and latrines. There are 217 students enrolled, of which 67 girls stay in the dormitory overnight. The school employs 10 teachers and six support staff.

Boarders wake up at 5am to get ready for morning study hall. Other students arrive at 6am to join the boarders for study hall before the normal day of classes begins.

Water

The school is connected to the Mbuuni water pipeline, but it’s unreliable. No water came out of the tap during our visit. It only works a few days a week, school administration staff shared with us. There are two plastic tanks on school grounds that are hooked up to this pipeline. The school fills them up with as much water they can afford whenever the taps are running.

So for most of the week, students are sent out with staff to buy water from a community borehole. This pump breaks down often, and students say that there’s some stiff competition between them and the community members; community members assert that a borehole located in their area should serve themselves first with the students’ needs secondary.

“Students waste a lot of time walking to the borehole to fetch water. Buying water is expensive to this young school whose parents struggle with fee payment. The borehole even dries up, and the pipeline is prone to breakages too,” Deputy Principal Wambua told us.

Sanitation

There are six latrines for each gender. The structures are in good shape, but they are not clean at all. This is because the school doesn’t have the water to spare for cleaning.

Deputy Principal Wambua admitted that “the school is struggling to keep high levels of hygiene and sanitation, but the lack of enough water derails our efforts.”

There are no handwashing stations, not even for the girls who live at the school full time. The scene inside the kitchen was also discomforting, and we couldn’t find a counter or dish rack for keeping utensils and dishes up off the ground.

Here’s what we’re going to do about it:

Training

Students and staff will be trained on hygiene and sanitation. Those in attendance will form a school health club that will promote good hygiene and sanitation practices both at school and at home. They will learn all the steps of proper hand-washing, how to treat water, and how to keep their environment clean. The school will also be taught how to best oversee and maintain their new rainwater catchment tank and hand-washing stations.

Hand-Washing Stations

Three hand-washing stations will be delivered at the project’s completion. These are 1,000-liter plastic tanks fitted with four taps. The health club and school management will be responsible for making sure tanks are filled with water and that a cleaning agent such as soap or ash is available.

Rainwater Catchment Tank

We will build a 104,000-liter rainwater catchment tank for this school. Its clean water will benefit the students, teachers, and supplementary staff. Parents will mobilize the materials needed for construction, such as sand and stone and also lend some strong arms to help with the actual construction.

As soon as the tank has time to cure, it can begin to collect rainwater for drinking, cooking and cleaning! 104,000 liters of water will keep students and staff in class and focusing on learning.

This project is a part of our shared program with Africa Sand Dam Foundation. Our team is pleased to provide the reports for this project (formatted and edited for readability) thanks to the hard work of our friends in Kenya.

Project Updates

07/01/2018: Mbuuni Secondary School Project Complete

A new rainwater catchment system was built! Mbuuni Secondary School in Kenya now has a new source of safe, clean water thanks to your support. Handwashing stations were installed, and students and staff have received training in sanitation and hygiene. All of these components work together to unlock the opportunity for these students to live better, healthier lives.

Cheers!

New Knowledge

Trainers held a Children’s Hygiene and Sanitation Training at Mbuuni Secondary School earlier this year. Training was held outside under the shade of a tree because it was so hot that day. Christine Lucas trained the students on topics related to food hygiene, latrine hygiene, water, diseases transmission, soap making and more.

These students learned a ton of new information. “The future is in your hands” is a saying used to explain how handwashing exercise is an important part of hygiene and sanitation training. Diarrhea diseases pass through our hands to the mouth, therefore, hand washing is very important and its best explained by demonstration of the handwashing procedure.

After learning the right procedure of handwashing, there was a competition among the students on who would demonstrate it correctly to the others. The winner was awarded three packets of cookies. This made the topic memorable with all the students willing to participate.

They learned each step of making soap so thoroughly that they could teach their parents once they returned home. Some teachers learned alongside the students, so now school administration plans to always make enough soap to keep at the handwashing stations and clean the school facilities.

Learning to make soap

“I am happy today because we have learned new skills on hygiene and soap making. As students, we will no longer suffer from stomach aches and waterborne diseases,” Carlone Kimeu, a student at the school, said.

“We will improve our hygiene both at school and at home. We will also train others on what we have learned today.”

Handwashing Stations

Two large handwashing stations were delivered to the school in time for training.

New handwashing stations

Rainwater Catchment Tank

Mbuuni Secondary School is affiliated with the Mbuuni Water Project Self-Help Group, since most of its members’ children attend here. These parents and school administration approached the self-help group committee and requested their help in alleviating the water shortage at the school.

A meeting with all of the parents and the headteacher was then held to plan out the project. Parents agreed to collect construction materials like sand, rocks, and water. They also worked hard alongside our artisans.

Construction for this 104,000-liter rainwater catchment tank is much like the construction of a concrete house. First, the ground is leveled for foundation excavation. Alternating layers of impermeable rocks are laid upon mortar up to seven feet high, with internal and external diameters of 25 and 28 feet respectively.

A reinforced concrete column is built right up to the center of the tank, which holds up the roof and prevents it from caving in. The walls are then plastered both internally and externally with waterproof cement. After that, several feet of guttering is installed and channeled into the tank.

Once the tank has cured (dried) sufficiently, it can begin to collect rainwater.

“We are happy about the school water tank that has been installed in the school compound,” Kimeu said.

“With water available in the school we will work hard to maintain maximum cleanliness in the school.”

05/18/2018: Mbuuni Secondary School Project Underway

A severe clean water shortage at Mbuuni Secondary School drains students’ time, energy, and health. Thanks to your generosity, we’re working to install a clean water point and much more.

Get to know your school through the introduction and pictures we’ve posted, and read about this water, sanitation and hygiene project. We look forward to reaching out with more good news!

Project Photos

Project Type

Rainwater is collected off strategic areas of a roof, enters a custom guttering system (which filters out debris) and leads to a storage tank. Tanks can vary in sizes and are determined by population and average rainfall patterns. Water can be stored for months, is easily treated in the tank, and is accessible through taps. These projects are implemented at schools with proper roof lines and gutter systems to make them successful.